The KMT, which Ma leads as chair, yesterday unveiled its first advertisement two weeks ahead of next month's local elections.

The ad features scenes of KMT candidates in close interaction with voters, with a background soundtrack of a little girl singing to the tune of the National Flag Song.

But Ma, who has played a prominent role in the party's election and image-building campaigns, is absent from the ad.

KMT spokesman Lee Chien-jung denied that the absence had anything to do with Ma losing his “personal charm.”

Lee stressed the candidates are the key figures in next month's elections, and the party does not want the focus to be diverted to Ma.

He dismissed the idea that the candidates are cold-shouldering Ma, as the chairman still had a busy schedule stumping for them.

Lee said a special version of the ad showing Ma conferring party flags to the candidates — a gesture of blessings and authorization — will be shown at a KMT gathering today marking the party's 115th anniversary.

KMT candidates were keen in the past to emphasize they had support from Ma, who was hugely popular.

The candidates usually would erect huge signboards featuring themselves flanked by the president.

But observers have noted that very few KMT candidates in this campaign would want to play the Ma card, and the president rarely appears in candidates' ad campaigns.

Ma's popularity has plunged following a series of controversies. His popularity ratings dropped as low as the mid-teens after the government's slow response to the Typhoon Morakot disasters in August.